Australia’s Iron Ore Ships

Big, but niche

A record 880 million tonnes of iron ore was shipped from Australia last year, almost all of it coming from three ports located within 185km of each other on the north coast of Western Australia. In theory this makes the stretch of coast between Dampier and Port Hedland the most important load area in the world for dry bulk shipping, but as we show below, there is a relatively small number vessels doing an awful lot of work.